How to Get the Most Out of Your New Digital Camera:
My advice is simple. Read the Manual.
As the camera evolves, the instruction manual becomes thicker and thicker. The instruction manual for my 1975 Canon FTbN was 48 pages long. The manual for my Canon Rebel XT is 172 pages long, over 3-1/2 times larger. It's tempting to read the "quick start" guide that usually accompanies new technology so that we can start using the product as quickly as possible, and there's nothing wrong with that.
The more daunting task of reading the full manual is easily put off, but reading that manual is the most important thing you can do to learn the camera and improve the results that you can get from it. Set aside an evening to sit down with the manual and the camera and work through each function. Do every operation described in the manual until you really understand it. The more sophisticated the camera, the more important it is to do this.
There are a couple of reasons why it is important to take the time for this process. First, if you don't learn the camera beforehand, you'll probably waste a lot of time on a shoot trying to figure out some of the functions by trial and error. Second, the camera probably has capabilities that you aren't aware of. Some may turn out to be of no value to you, but others probably will.
Even if you take my advice, there are so many functions and options in digital cameras that most people won't remember them all. What I've found, though, is that from time to time I'll be confronted with a technical challenge in the field for which I won't know the solution, but at least I'll remember that I saw something about it in the manual.
Then I can either work through the menus until I refresh my memory to the point that I can enable the function, or I can look it up next time I have my hands on the manual.
Read the manual. It's really time well spent.
Next: The Manufacturer's Website is There to Help You.
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